Conclusion
It took me quite a while to decide whether I wanted to keep my old journal entries untouched. In the end, I have decided to slightly polish them but keep my train of thought the way it was when I was first writing them. I believe that way it could be more visible how my critical thinking skills have developed. Some of my early entries could have been thought out better, but while writing them I was doing my best at the time. I have struggled with combining academic writing with journal writing – I always tried to briefly summarize a thought from the week that had the greatest impact on me and then I would state my own opinion on the matter or how it could be connected to other themes we have discussed. I have learned a lot throughout the whole semester, with each week there was more complexity added to the overall theme of the module. I can vividly see now that studying anything, especially abstract terms like religion and gender, must be done with great devotion. Background information of everything that is connected to a single statement is incredibly important in order to fully understand it. Critical religion gives us the opportunity to thoroughly study the problematics of this in great depth. Connecting the question of gender to religion shows a different perspective and allows for a greater debate, but most importantly it makes it more personal. Each individual views and understands themselves and their surroundings differently, all depending on their own circumstances and surrounding cultures. Having this state of mind gives me the opportunity to study topics like the myth of Lilith, the Hijra community, the black hair movements, or theopoetics in more depth and from different angles. Theopoetics specifically helped me realize that subjective and personal views are also important and have to be valued and respected because there are just too many factors in a single person’s life that can enhance their spirituality, even if they are simple material things. I find great joy in being able to continue my studies with this mindset.